The Auswine Forum

JF wrote:

Red Bigot wrote:From JO on Twitter: "work on the website is firing up. looking forward to launch in a few short weeks!"

This is very funny. Has JO thought of getting into stand up?

same old BS from JO for the past 2 years since he promised the all new website.

Spotted tie up with CT & contemplating subscribing. Has anyone purchased JH's Wine Companion iPhone App? If so, is it worth the money?

Never bothered subscribing to JO (& it seems just as well), but his Wine Annual is one of 2 wine books I buy each year.

Rednick wrote:Well Halliday has beat him to integration with Cellar Tracker - this was enough to get me to sign up for JH.

I might consider this IF it wasn't just Companion notes (ie. new releases), but the full catalogue of Halliday's stuff.
F'rnstance, Halliday's attended at Penfolds RoP tastings no. 2-6 at least. I should say over the years he must have accumulated nearly a dozen notes on, say, Bin 90A.
What's on CT? Nothing from Halliday... If he can provide his notes from Classic Wines III, that sort of thing, then I'll consider it.
G

Mark Carrington wrote:Spotted tie up with CT & contemplating subscribing. Has anyone purchased JH's Wine Companion iPhone App? If so, is it worth the money?

It's definitely worth it at $10 I'd say, for two main reasons. You get a lot of back-dated notes which has helped me for years before I arrived in the country and started buying the book every year. It's also very handy when on the road (restaurants, bottle shops) when you're looking for a bit of guidance with an untasted purchase. It would be great if it could be more helpful as a travel guide, with for instance integration with Google maps as the SMH Good Food Guide ap has, but maybe that's for a later version.

To be honest I'm not that keen on Halliday, and find JO much closer to my preferences, but as the only Aussie linked to CT I figured I'd take a punt.

So far the only dissapointment is not having a seperate drinking window as it's only in the notes section. If JO or even GW/CM link up then I'd probably drop Halliday.

I heard that this thread had been re-opened, so I thought I would let users of this forum know what I have posted on my site recently.

Last week I published:

The new website build for jeremyoliver.com is progressing rapidly, with a significantly updated appearance, functionality and the release of two world-leading internet tools for wine.

The site is expected to be ready for a soft launch in mid-November. From that time onwards the team will be populating some of the more innovative features. The current site will cease to be 'live' from this point in time. All the new ratings for new and recent releases will be found by this time at the new site.

I will also be engaging a number of Australia's leading wine critics and reviewers to contribute content throughout the year to ensure a steady stream of new ratings, tasting notes and comment. I look forward to introducing the new team in November.

Our schedule looks towards a major public launch around February/March, around which time we will also be introducing the new smartphone application. Like the website, the smartphone application will take IT-based interactivity to a new level.

The time taken to create this new build and to fashion the business behind it is considerably more than I envisaged (as indeed has been the cost!!!), but the scale and usefulness of the new website is well beyond anything currently available on the internet. This new concept has pretty well taken 85% of my work time for the last 18 months. I can't say how much I am looking forward to seeing it live!

As I have previously indicated, all current subscribers to the site will be given an additional 365 days of subscription once the new site is live. All prior subscribers will be offered a free year's subscription.

I understand the frustration that people are experiencing over this extended build period. Given the limited resources within this business, I chose to direct all our energy towards the new development to bring it to fruition as quickly as possible. I realise that expectations for the new site will be high, but I am confident that once they see it working, people will understand the time taken to develop the new site.

So it will not be long before with a new web site in operation, I will be able to provide subscribers with an unparalleled range of wine reviews and comment, in association with some of the most exciting and ground-breaking tools ever devised for a wine internet site and mobile phone.

Thanks for your patience!

Today, on this forum I add that while I understand that there are many wine enthusiasts who will be glad or even surprised to see the actual launch of this new site, there will be no-one more relieved than I will be. After a costly false-start a couple of years ago, I have developed a new web concept, put together a new company, gone to the market to raise funding and then added this investment to the not inconsiderable amount invested of my own to create a web-based business whose functionality is well beyond anything yet launched on the internet. It has been and remains an exciting but nerve-wracking process, and is light years more complex than anything I have ever been involved with.

As said above, I am offering any current or previous user a free 12 months access to the site. I am grateful for the generous comments made in this thread about my annual book, and frankly can't wait to be able to offer even better value with the new web product.

By the way, I have been talking for years to the CellarTracker guys and once my new site is fully functional and ironed out, I will be revisiting the idea with Eric LeVine. I'm not sure it will suit my new business model, but my team and I will give the idea a good going-over.

Best,

Jeremy.

Thanks for the humble post Jeremy.

I am sure that everybody appreciates your contrite and apologetic comments regarding the lack of content on your site for the past two years.

Or, maybe I got that wrong..........

Jeremy Oliver wrote:...I will be revisiting the idea with Eric LeVine. I'm not sure it will suit my new business model, but my team and I will give the idea a good going-over.

There are plenty of examples of folks who've subscribed to a critic's website because it's available through Cellartracker. For people with varied cellars, CT is the ultimate place to bring all the 'professional' content together as far as tasting notes go.
OK, for some subscribers who only want tasting notes, you may feel you've 'lost' the click to CT instead of your own site, with all the resultant effect that has on (possible?) advertising rates, web traffic, etc. But that's got to be balanced against ther fact that without the CT feed, those subscribers may not exist at all.
In theory I'm happy to subscribe to 'pro' sites for articles and non-TN stories, but only if I can get the TNs through CT as well.
It may be that there aren't that many Australian drinkers/collectors on CT, so there's insufficient critical mass for it to matter to you.
But for one, I'm finished with subscribing (using hard-earned $) to wine websites unless I can get the TN-related component via CT.
cheers,
G

Couldn't agree more - I won't even consider a subscription now unless it has Cellar Tracker integration.

Hi Jeremy

I m not a subscriber and have never been one. However, if you have been off the air for a long time, or posted as few notes as reported here, I would be apologising, not explaining things, as you appear to be doing.

Just my 2c (this is a forum and I have had a couple of glasses of 08 TF Butcher's Block) - this is a classic Barossa GSM by the way, with a predominantly dark fruit entry and just a hint of sweetness in the front palate for interest. Plenty of savoury flavours - yum. V V G. Excellent QPR at about $21 at the local big boy/girl/other.

Cheers

Michael

Jeremy,

If I could make a suggestion.
I think you had lost many supporters over the last few years with this website debacle. I don't think many of them would be interested in "chasing" you for a complementary 1 year subscription once up and running. I am sure you would still have records of past and current subscribers on your records. It may be wise to contact these people by email, and offer them the 1 year complementary subscription with a new password and all. That way, even if they had long forgotten about your site, you may be able to snare some back...

2c

Mong.

As a previous subscriber I agree with Monghead - taking the initiative would be a show of good faith.

The new website is going to need to be pretty special (for what it is worth I haven't given up on JO........yet!).

Makes me think of drawing an analogy to a a trash talking prize figheter telling you about all the great things he is going to do once he recovers from all his injuries - if he delivers at the end then he might get away with it but a mediocre or poor performance at the end makes him look like a clown.

Michael McNally wrote:Hi Jeremy

I m not a subscriber and have never been one. However, if you have been off the air for a long time, or posted as few notes as reported here, I would be apologising, not explaining things, as you appear to be doing.

Just my 2c (this is a forum and I have had a couple of glasses of 08 TF Butcher's Block) - this is a classic Barossa GSM by the way, with a predominantly dark fruit entry and just a hint of sweetness in the front palate for interest. Plenty of savoury flavours - yum. V V G. Excellent QPR at about $21 at the local big boy/girl/other.

Cheers

Michael

Michael,

Absolutely spot on, JO has made lots of excuses both online and offline for the incomplete update of his regular site and continued delay of this infamous new site. Like others I gave up long ago and felt ripped off having subscribed for several years. JO is on the right track to give a free 12 months subscription to previous users to try and bring them back. Even though I see this as more of a business decision, it is still appreciated and goes some way to restore a lot of damage. Others are right he may need to push this hard, vs. waiting for the masses to return. All responses by JO has only come about by some pretty hard follow from the wine community, it has not been proactive from his end.

Cheers Gerry

Anybody heard what the latest excuse is?

Jeremy Oliver wrote:Our schedule looks towards a major public launch around February/March, around which time we will also be introducing the new smartphone application. Like the website, the smartphone application will take IT-based interactivity to a new level.

Knowing what a drama these things can be, and the pressure on him to do it right, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, ignoring his mentioned 'soft-launch around November' optimism..

Cheers
TiggerK

I hope he gets it sorted and am sure he will ... but I will not sign until I see it.

He has the best palate of the Oz reviewers with GW (imo) although with wines on the cusp of over-ripeness I think he can sway about +4/-4 (so from 96 down to 88).
Has this changed? Haven't bought his book for about 5 years now.

Anyone know when the site relaunches? It's been a long long countdown...

cummon, all you need is right here at auswine

Craig(NZ) wrote:cummon, all you need is right here at auswine

Exactly

Jeremy Who????

.

Gavin Trott wrote:

Craig(NZ) wrote:cummon, all you need is right here at auswine

Exactly

Jeremy Who????

.

Agreed wholeheartedly. This thread has already passed its second birthday, and by the time JO gets it all up and running, it may be old enough to buy wine from Auswine

Time for a wine book burning

Chris, Craig and Gavin,

Thanks for your comments on my new site. Hopefully there will be no need for a bonfire, since we are working towards what is admittedly a delayed beta launch in the near future.

The build has been large and complex, and the idiosyncracies of web development have held the project up for longer than any of us would have intended.

Once the site is launched, with world-first functionality, all existing subscribers will receive an additional 12 months membership, while all expired subscribers will be invited to participate in a free year's membership.

A large number of people are working to help this happen as quickly as possible.

With kind regards,

Jeremy.

Without wishing to cause offence, might I enquiry Jeremy how many tasting notes you have posted in the last 6-mths? As a non-subscriber I cannot tell this from your site (indeed the screenshots all show reviews ending in 2003), however this thread suggests to me that it has been few while your new site was under development.

Given the posts in this thread, a potential customer such as myself might ask - why have you kept taking new subscriptions (indeed I could give you $40 today for a membership) while the new site was under development when it must have become obvious its delivery was going to be severly delayed?

I note:
August 2009: "This new site was intended to be fully operational mid 2008"
June 2011: "working towards... a delayed beta launch in the near future"

Thanks.

Maybe Jeremy could also define 'in the near future'?

Again, not a word of apology or even a hint of humility from the great man.

JF wrote:Maybe Jeremy could also define 'in the near future'?

Well, according to the website that he is using to invite wineries to be "partners" at up to $15,000 for "Gold" status, the launch date is today.

"I am shortly to launch a new website at jeremyoliver.com that deploys cutting-edge technology to provide a new and innovative means for wine producers to engage with their market. This site, which has been developed through a new company, Wine Preference Systems P/L, will shortly commence beta testing.

This new site will not only act as a gateway for wine consumers, but also as a tool with which wineries can dramatically enhance their internet presence, engage in e-trade, and dynamically inform and build relationships with their customers.

The site is the only one of its kind in the world to recommend specific wines based on the drinking preferences of the individual user. It also enables wineries to tell their own stories and to market and sell their wines direct from their cellar doors to a new, large and engaged audience by way of their own unique individually tailored micro-site."


http://www.winepreferencesystems.com/signup.htm

Interesting that with all that "cutting-edge technology" the credit card payment page is an unsecured http:

Roger

RogerPike wrote:Again, not a word of apology or even a hint of humility from the great man.

JF wrote:Maybe Jeremy could also define 'in the near future'?

Well, according to the website that he is using to invite wineries to be "partners" at up to $15,000 for "Gold" status, the launch date is today.

WOW. I though Halliday was a little cheeky asking wineries $299 to $399, but this is another level altogether.

Sounds like I should get cracking on finally getting my own website up!

Cheers,
Ian

I love this!!!

[quote="n4sir:

WOW. I though Halliday was a little cheeky asking wineries $299 to $399, but this is another level altogether.

Sounds like I should get cracking on finally getting my own website up!

Cheers,
Ian[/quote]

Yes please, Ian. I would be delighted to see your product online, and would be prepared to pay a small tariff. Of course, as I am now endorsing your proposal, I will PM you later with my terms and conditions

Just joking - your posts are the best on the forum.

Cheers

Allan

Jeremy Oliver wrote:Chris, Craig and Gavin,

Thanks for your comments on my new site. Hopefully there will be no need for a bonfire, since we are working towards what is admittedly a delayed beta launch in the near future.

The build has been large and complex, and the idiosyncracies of web development have held the project up for longer than any of us would have intended.

Once the site is launched, with world-first functionality, all existing subscribers will receive an additional 12 months membership, while all expired subscribers will be invited to participate in a free year's membership.

A large number of people are working to help this happen as quickly as possible.

With kind regards,

Jeremy.

Hello Jeremy

Could I suggest a gradual entry system, to coax users into / back to your site? All well and good to offer bonuses for existing subscribers, but you might not wish to neglect expanding the market.......

a) a trial site; i.e. free temporary access to some functionality
b) a sample site; i.e. free temporary access to a limite range of 'read only' or sample gear
c) Android and IPhone apps
d) A tasting notes forum. Maybe your notes on a particular wine / vintage, with an option for members to post their own notes.

I'm sure there are more permutations. And none of this is original

Regards

Allan